This invention relates to a decorative display which can be customised by the user, to a particular display size. The device is intended to be customised by the purchaser in accordance with requirements, to display a particular desired result.
The invention is particularly suitable for use in greetings cards, or as a greetings card. The purchaser of a greetings card in accordance with this invention can customise the card to suit the circumstances in which the card is being given. The invention is not however restricted to this application, and can be used in other circumstances where items are purchased to provide a decorative display, and where there is a desire to customise the item before it is displayed.
According to the invention, there is provided a device for displaying decorative material to a variable extent as determined by a user, the device comprising an elongate strip which is divided into sections and is adapted to be divided by the user at any one of the section divisions to shorten the part of the strip which will be displayed to a desired length.
The device can be an insert for a greetings card, a greetings card on its own, or a decorative display of some other form. The strip can either be mounted on a support or can exist alone as a decorative display. The strip can be folded or rolled for storage prior to display.
The device may be sold to individual purchasers as an insert, and the purchaser can buy separately a greetings card into which the (cut-to-length) insert can be inserted and fixed in place.
According to a particular form of the invention, there is provided a greetings card having an insert in the form of a folded elongate strip which can be folded out from the card, the strip being attached to the card at one end and being divided into sections, the strip being adapted to be divided at any of the section divisions to shorten the part of the strip attached to the card to a desired length.
The strip can have multiple images, with boundaries between the images serving as section divisions.
Such a card is particularly appropriate as a birthday card, where the length of the insert can be shortened by the purchaser of the card to a length commensurate with the birthday of the person to whom the card is being given. For example, the strip may carry a repeating pattern of birthday candles, and the user can shorten the strip to the number of candles equivalent to the number of the birthday of the person to whom the card is to be given. In this case, the insert can be divided into sections by the spaces between individual candles, and can be cut with a pair of scissors at the appropriate section division. It may alternatively to be possible to provide perforations at the section divisions so that the insert can be shortened by tearing across a set of perforations. The invention is not however restricted to the use of birthday candles as section divisions.
Most greetings cards consist of at least two folded leaves and in a simple card construction which has two folded leaves, the insert can be provided between the two leaves, with one end of the insert being attached close to the fold line which joins the two leaves. However the invention is not restricted to the cards having only one fold, and can be used in cards having more than one fold or indeed in cards having no fold, i.e., consisting of only one leaf (the insert can then be attached on one side or the other of the leaf).
The insert can be attached within the card adjacent an edge of the card on which the card will stand on a surface. Then, when the insert is folded out, the insert can also stand on the same surface to display the pattern on the insert.
Alternatively, the insert can fold out in a direction which is not parallel to the surface on which the card will stand. For example, the insert can fold out from the top or from the bottom of the card.
The same insert can be used in a variety of cards carrying different messages or pictures on the outside, and the invention therefore also provides an insert for a greetings card, the insert being in the form of a folded elongate strip, one end of which is to be attached to the card, the strip being divided into sections and being adapted to be divided at any one of the section divisions to shorten the strip to a desired length.
The sections can be defined, as suggested above, by individual pictures of birthday candles printed on an elongate strip, or by a variety of other appropriate indexing methods which count birthdays, anniversaries, exam results or any other numerically quantifiable events.
The strip is preferably of paper and may be printed on one or both sides. If it is printed on only one side, the reverse can be used by the purchaser for writing messages or greetings. The section divisions will normally be identified by the printed pattern on the sheet, but may also be defined by perforations as mentioned earlier.
The strip may alternatively be of thin card, or of a plastics film.
The strip may be parallel sided, or may be of varying transverse dimension. One or both edges may be die-cut to provide a regular or irregular pattern along one or both edges of the strip. The section divisions may be defined by the die-cut pattern.
If a transparent plastics film is used, the film can be parallel sided, with part of the film printed and part unprinted, to give the visual effect of a die cut edge.
When an edge is die-cut, it is preferably cut without any undercut or indented edges, so that superimposed lengths of the folded strip do not get caught up on one another.